Daily Archives: February 25, 2019
Mark Phillips wanted to bring up some low points of a special Vineyard Wind meeting
A Rhode Island fishing board on Saturday voted in favor of a revised compensation offer from offshore wind developer Vineyard Wind in a decision that boosts the New Bedford company’s chances of securing a key approval from state coastal regulators later this week. >R.I. fishermen, Vineyard Wind reach deal on compensation<. After letting Fred Mattera give glowing praise to the Fishery Advisory Board for 3 minutes. Lanny shutout industry from commenting even though the audience was asking to be heard and had been told two days before that they would be allowed to speak at this public meeting. The meeting two days earlier had the media and state representatives kicked out. Also the attorney never disclosed that she was attorney for two of the FAB members and Fred Mattera group who will ultimately control the funds. Capt. Mark Phillips 17:16
Head of Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance upset with Vineyard Wind plan
Vineyard Wind wants to build an 84 turbine offshore wind farm, fifteen miles from the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, and right in the heart of squid ground. “It will chase pretty much every species out of that area which is an extremely large area,” Richard Fuka said. On Saturday, the Fisheries Advisory Board voted unanimously to move forward with the project, accepting a nearly 17-million dollar compensation package from Vineyard Wind. That money would be aimed at mitigating any negative impacts the project would have on the fishing industry. But Fuka says the majority of the state’s fishermen do not support the deal and are not represented on the advisory board. “Nobody from those three fish houses is on that board,” Fuka said. Rhode Island’s Coastal Resources Management Council is now set to vote on the project on Tuesday. >click to read<16:17
Newfoundland and Labrador 1994 crab quota agreement not a contract: judge
A judge’s decision last week brought an end to a nearly 13-year-old court case between a group of Newfoundland and Labrador snow crab fishermen and the federal government. The Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador ruled in favour of the federal government saying that there was no “contract” in place between the group of fishermen and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans following an agreement on quotas in 1994. The background of the case is that in the fall of 1994, two years after the moratorium was placed upon the northern cod stocks that crippled the fishing industry in the province, fishermen were struggling to keep their boats on the water. >click to read<14:20
Commercial Fishing Assistance Offered – Hurricane Florence Commercial Fishing Assistance Program
Some North Carolina commercial fishermen can receive financial help from the Hurricane Florence Commercial Fishing Assistance Program. The state Division of Marine Fisheries was to mail packets last week to those that are eligible based on October and November landings. Packets are only being sent to those fishermen who had lower landings in October and/or November 2018 as compared to their average landings from the same months in the previous three years. The second round of payments from the program, state legislature appropriated $11.6 million to DMF to help commercial fishermen and shellfish harvesters who suffered income losses from harvest reductions due to Hurricane Florence. >click to read<13:49
